magnetic fields

Study links in-utero exposure to magnetic fields to child obesity

High electromagnetic field levels of household appliances (such as washing machines and hair dryers) and wireless devices (such as laptops and routers) may be at least partially to blame for the rise in childhood obesity in recent years, according to a 13-year study by Kaiser Permanente that followed hundreds of pregnant women and 733 of their children.

After controlling for several factors, including child gender, pre-pregnancy BMI, maternal age at delivery, race, education, breastfeeding, and smoking, researchers write in Nature's Scientific Reports that children exposed to high in-utero levels are nearly twice as likely to be overweight or obese … Read more

Tapping Earth's magnetic field for indoor navigation

While outdoor navigation has been mastered with GPS satellites and cell phone triangulation, indoor navigation has proven more tricky.

Now, a group of researchers at the University of Oulu in Finland has tapped the Earth's magnetic field to create an indoor positioning system (IPS). The researchers say their approach was inspired by studying the way homing pigeons and lobsters use anomalies in the magnetic field to navigate their travels.

Researchers explain in a paper (PDF) -- titled "Ambient magnetic field-based indoor location technology / Bringing the compass to the next level" -- that the same magnetic field that … Read more

New mini sensor can measure brain's magnetic activity

An atom-based magnetic sensor the size of a sugar cube has successfully measured human brain activity, a milestone that could ultimately lead to advancing our understanding of a wide range of neurological conditions and diseases, according to researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

We first reported on an earlier iteration of the sensor, which has been in development since 2004, back when the team was first able to use the sensor to track a human heartbeat in 2010.

This week, the researchers report in the journal Biomedical Optics Express that their tiny sensor -- which consists … Read more

Could magnets replace aspirin as blood thinners?

Temple University physics department chair Rongjia Tao made headlines in 2008 when he developed a simple device that creates an electric field to thin fuel, thereby reducing the size of the droplets injected into the engine and improving fuel efficiency.

Now, Tao and former graduate student Ke Huang are unveiling their latest research that this same principle, when applied to the human body, can help thin blood and reduce one's risk of heart attack--without the side effects of blood thinners such as aspirin.

After testing numerous blood samples at Temple, the physicists were able to use a magnetic field of 1.3 Telsa (roughly equivalent to what is used in an MRI) for just one minute to polarize the red blood cells, which contain iron, thereby causing those cells to link together in short, streamlined chains flowing down the center of blood vessels and reducing friction along the walls.

The result: smoother blood flow. In fact, after just 1 to 12 minutes of exposure to the magnetic field via a 1,000-pound magnet, blood viscosity decreased by 20 to 30 percent for several hours. Eventually, blood viscosity returned to previous levels.… Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1266: It's not the porn, it's you (podcast)

If you find that your employees are goofing off watching porn at work instead of working, does it make logical sense that you should get rid of the porn, or the employee? Exactly. Of course, the government doesn't see it that way, but they're the ones who encoded their like, 900-word mission statement into the U.S. CyberCommand shield. Sigh.